


Playing Favorites

by The_DK



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: AU, Age Difference, Ambiguous/Open Ending, M/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 04:46:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2838488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_DK/pseuds/The_DK





	Playing Favorites

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mimisuita](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mimisuita/gifts).



Hideyoshi’s the type of guy that'd try anything once. No,really, literally anything.

Let's talk about girls. Any kind of girl, Hide's down. Petite, tall, taller than the men's volleyball team tall, he is down. Round, plump, skinnier than a twig, and he's still down. And it don't matter what level her social class, social circle or social life was- if she was up for it,shit, Hideyoshi was _down_.

Really, _really_ down. Nobody could say they were more down for anything than Hideyoshi. If the girl stood her up, he'd say he had a good time. If she wouldn't let him put his dick in he was still having a good time. If it turned out the chick already has boyfriend. If the boyfriend was on the football starting team. If he's too smashed to drag himself out of a half lit alleyway because he's sporting panda eyes-

Hideyoshi would say, muffled under frozen green peas, "Yeah, I had a pretty great time."

Now let's talk about ramen. One specific ramen brand,actually. In fact one ramen brand for the past twelve years. Hideyoshi eats nyan petite's chicken teriyaki. He gets it up in a stove, always, if there's no stove, he's not eating it. He cuts up spring onions cracks open an egg and lays it right on top, and it's ready.

If he waits, the noodles get nice and soggy.

The flavor is extremely consistent but in the event that factories start releasing a changeup to the recipe, he knows how to make noodles to taste.

“The great hangover remedy,” is what his drunk ass whispers at 2am.

Let’s learn karate.

Close your fist properly!

Open up the palm, fingers straight. Now close and tuck the fingers at the level in which they begin, starting from the pinky. As you close the first and second fingers, grip hard. Feel the tension in you grip while protecting the knuckles and wrist.

Start with the fist resting against your side, facing upward. Your other first faces rigidly outward and acts as your steer. To attack with the fist, rotate your wrist downward and direct the first two knuckles, from the area just below your ribs.

Tuck in your chin.

"Hiya!"

"Shh!"

Hide grins sheepishly at the librarian. He not on to hang out in the library, as you might assume. He the guy that starts mumbling to himself at his desk. He usually rents a study room or works in his dorm because he finds himself in the midst of doing the high notes of old anime openings and engaging in other obnoxious habits. Today he’s lucky to be in the building at all; he’s misplaced his ID.

“I don’t think the library is the best place for this,” Kaneki Ken says from behind _Karate-Do Kyohan_.

“Yeah, well, my dorm is pretty shitty right now, so.”

“Did you get into a fight?”

“Hm?”

Kaneki motions towards the top half of his face, “Over here’s very…”

 

“What? Oh, yeah,” once it’s mentioned, the feeling of his bruises stir up again. “Yeah, no, it was just a little misunderstanding. I apologized a little too, late and-.”

“You’re being bullied.”

“I’m being- no, dude, this is college.”

“People are harassed in college,too, Hide. Read the news.Is someone forcing you?”

“ _Forcing_ -”

“ _SHHH_!”

Hideyoshi ducks his head and hunches over, “I was smashed last night. Okay? And stupid. My girlfriend just dumped me and I was-talking with this girl and she was already-”

“Oh.”

“Yeah and I think her boyfriend plays power forward on the basketball team.”

“Oh?”

“Tall and meaty.”

“ _Oh_.”

“Yeah.” Hideyoshi leans back “I’m pretty much over the hangover though.”

“I thought the karate was for self defence.” Kaneki says quietly.

“Well, that would be nice, maybe.”

“You should go to a dojo or a club, then.” He waves the book around. “Having me read to you is kind of…”

Hideyoshi’s struck, “I thought you liked books. This is the campus library! I brought you here because I thought you’d like it!”

“I used to go here, Hide, I already know what it’s like.”

“Wait,” and this must be one of the important questions Hideyoshi’s failed to ask over the past few weeks. “You go here?!”

“I used to. I’m 23.”

“ _23_ -”

“ _BE QUIET_!” the librarian ruptures.

\--

“Oh shit, did you see how red she got? I thought she was about to explode!”

Kaneki smacks his arm, “Because you kept shouting!”

“You were shouting a little!”

“I wasn’t-!”

“She was hitting both of us-You’re shouting now!”

“We’re not in the library!” Kaneki cries.

True. It was just a half assed attempt at arranging an excursion. Kaneki said, when the first met, that he was something of an avid reader; bam-library. And Kamii University’s definitely a warphole of books, ready to sink you from the first day of finals week. When Hideyoshi blearily pried his eyes open in the early hours, it’s what first came to mind. And it’s such an adult thing to do: to willingly carry one’s feet towards the library and read. Kaneki would have seen him as a maturing seed of the country’s pride. There were brownie points to be found everywhere at the time, but now Hideyoshi feels a bit scathed.

“But, seriously, why karate?” Kaneki asks.

 

“Well,” Hideyoshi replies,“They say successful people have three hobbies”

“Only three?”

“Three different types, I mean.” He lists off with his fingers as he says, “There’s a creative hobby- like knitting, painting, music, whatever. Then there’s academic, which,” he waves his hand around. “and then karate.”

“Karate, that one.”

“The physical one, the athletic one, yeah.”

“But it doesn’t have to be martial arts. Join a varsity team. Track and field, swimming-”

“Basketball?”

“What, ah- no, Hide!” Hide laughs. “You should seriously contact someone, in case he still has it out for you.”

“It’s cool, we’re cool. I told you- misunderstanding. He called me a cab from inside, I heard. Maybe I did him a favor.”

“Well, you shouldn’t be drinking anyway. Turning you in would be the responsible thing to do.”  Kaneki whirled around to face him mid-stride and led with a chiding finger. “Don’t do that again, okay?”

“Okay.” he said.

“Good.”

“Hide.”

“Huh?”

“Hide, that’s what you called me. Earlier.”

“Oh...it was just something I thought of subconsciously and-”

“No, no. It’s good. Keep at it. It’s a symbol of friendship.”

“Okay...Hide.”

Hide smiles.

  
  


 

“Nishio, what would you do if- you’re cheating on your girlfriend.”

Nishiki Nishio:

uses his grad student privilege to bring food and drink to the Biology department research labs

has never let anyone know where he sleeps

is the posterchild of the Alpha Narcissist.

When Hide first met the guy it was to retrieve footage of last summer’s cultural festival. He was met with a similar portrait of what he’s viewing now except back then Nishio was plowing a girl of far greater Harajuku prowess. His poor freshman eyes were burnt asunder, and that’s what he told the upperclassmen when he returned empty handed, but his ass was still mercilessly smacked 22 consecutive times.

So what else was he to do but hound on him nearly everyday for the vid until the guy caved? Hide tailed him all over campus during common hours and breaks. After a month and a half, Hide was unceremoniously aware that Nishio is engaged in numerous extortion deals with people of little to no relevance with each other. (His connections are as high as the assistant dean, which answers many questions, but convolute even _more_.) Learning this, it’s no stretch of the imagination to guess at how Nishio’s ended up using the research lab as his personal bachelor pad. Girls, girls, girls. Every week, a different girl. All of them tanned, buxom ladies, nearly spilling from their straps as they go gaga over the prick. Hide couldn’t go in there, ever. Never again. So the only course of action would be the most tedious and potentially embarrassing one.

And while tailing Nishio home, Nishio says to the girl at his arm, “When are you going to let go of me?”

“But didn’t you say we’d get to play some more?”

“I don’t need your stench in my apartment. Scram, bitch.”

He didn't go home after that. He didn’t go home for a long time. Instead, he traverses the streets for a while alone, steps into a fancy restaurant that wouldn’t take a fake IDs, and decides to do some grocery shopping at ass o’clock while chatting on the phone with whoever's up at the ungodly hour.

“I did, and I’m going to keep doing it until you stop smelling like those cigarettes your instructor likes.” he says at an inappropriate volume. “Yes, you are. Yes, you _are_...No one has that many night classes, who has that many night classes? Do I look stupid? Do I look stupid to you? I’ll be damned if some bitch cheats on me and I don’t collect my dues.”

And it was then, that Hideyoshi realized something. Nishiki Nishio, is  half matured human  of shit who believes that when somebody cheats on you, it only natural to engage in a show of fornicatory one-upmanship. And as the twelfth container of Blondy joined its brothers in the shopping cart, he realized something else:

Hideyoshi Nagachika and Nishiki Nishio are one and the same.

“-you’re cheating on your girlfriend.”

“Ah,” Nishiki notices him. “Nagachika.”

But Hide’s notices something entirely different, “Mami?”

“Hideyoshi,” Mami say incredulously, although, she doesn’t have the right, Hide thinks. It’s not as though he’s the one caught unawares with a dick his mouth.

 

There’s the long stretch of time comforting to no one; Mami is hurriedly layering her clothes back on, simultaneously making the process take even longer.Hideyoshi, can’t look anywhere but up at the ceiling. And Nishio, goddamn, even he’s got a cramp in his neck. He’s surprised, yes, but not as surprised as he could be. There were the signs. She stopped giving head, wanted him to hang out with the girls more, stuff like that. And Nishio is a pretty popular guy, shit, his game is out of this-

“Oh,” and Mami’s suddenly in his face. Hideyoshi, inadvertently notices that particular flush above her cheekbones and around her temples. Her dark hair is loose and piece in the way that he likes but, to his surprise, is actually difficult to achieve. Not that you know anything about what a girl’s got to go through, is what Mami would say.

She tucks a loose strand and looks away and Hideyoshi could see that discoloration from the night before, fading. Without meeting his eyes, Mami slides past him carefully before hurrying her pace.

“Here.”

Hide catches the can before it hits him squarely, “Is this an apology?”

“Peace offering?”

“Nah,” Hide scratches the back of his head. “She broke up with me last night.” He finds two sugars from a counter top and a wooden stirrer, which is good, because the place is a mess to sift through sometimes.

Nishiki opens up a can of coffee and nods to his face, “What did she throw at you?”

“Nothing." Hide takes a swig of his own and chokes.

“Amazing.”

“What the fuck is this shit?” he holds the drink at arms reach as he inspects the damage. Assessment: brutal; he can’t wear this shirt outside anymore.

“You have got to stop accepting unknown beverages from people.”

“Fuck yourself, alright?” Hide squints at the label. “This isn’t what you usually drink.” He looks at the one in Nishiki’s hand, too. “You run out of Blondy?”

Nishiki laughs, “Making a change.”

“Oh,” Hide says. “I see.” He nods. “So you and Kimi are…?”

“Shut up.”Nishiki says, but even he grimaces as he takes a swig.

“Dude, you’ve got to stop doing this every time you think she’s cheating. Because she’s not, you know. You can’t just sleep with other people to get back at her, that’s not right. Especially when she not doing anything.”

“Yeah well she’s doing it now, boy I tell you.” his laughter is dark and mirthless. “She’s really done it now.”

“I think you’re overreacting,” Hide said. “Heck, you even thought I was sleeping with her! I didn’t even know what her name was back then.”

Nishiki chugs his coffee, takes Hide’s and drinks that, too. “You know, you’re one to talk, Nagachika? I’d be worried about myself, in your shoes.”

“What the hell does that mean? How did this shift to talking about me all of a sudden?”

 

“What I _mean_ ,” Nishiki states plainly, as he begins crushing cans, “is that you just watched your girlfriend walk out of here after blowing me, and you’re here drinking with me instead of running after her.”

“She broke up with me.”

“Yesterday.” Nishiki free throws from the opposite side of the room and scores three. “ What’re your balls made of? Steel? Should I call her back? Should we make this a viewing session?”

“Stop it, Nishiki.”

“She was average, you weren’t missing out.” Nishiki starts compressing the next one. “And you get into brawls and you drink stuff without even the slightest hesitation. Just what _is_ wrong with you?”

And it really couldn’t be helped in that moment, when Hide’s arm lashed out of its own accord. The body’s form is all wrong but all he cared to do was _connect_. The blood is unsettling if only paired with the knowledge that he was the one that did the damage. It should be liberating. His hands should unclench any moment now, they _should_.

“Genetics is a bitch, isn’t it?”

He _does_.

“Hoo, boy,” Nishiki adjusts his glasses. Hide’s fist is cradled in his palm, like a babe, and anyone from the outside looking in would assume that his arm was gently being taken down. “That’s very rude, Nagachika...ah,” he looks down at their joined hands. “Are you in a martial arts class or something?”

 

He doesn’t go out tonight. Instead, he gathers things.

He gathers, he doesn’t pack, because everything was already in bags anyway.

He eats ramen. Figures out some assignments for Statistics and watches old variety shows until about 8:30 when stands by the door for a while and until 8:41 when the doorbell rings.

He opens the door.

“You’re not gonna get mad? For not showing up when I said I would?” Mami says.

Hide rubs his eyes, “You’ve got part-time. I understand.”

Everything is set so there’s no real need to dither. Hide hands them to her one by one, checking of all the things that he allowed to encroach his territory. Some of the things, he’s named aren’t even things Mami would remember, going by her face, but it’s her right to have them so. There it is.

Once he’s done and it looks like she has everything there’s not much else to do. “See you in class, I guess.”

“Is that it?”

Hide ponders this, really looks at her and thinks about what more she could want from him that he’d be willing to give. “I can help you with those to the station, I think-.”

“Slap me.”

“Mami,” Hide sighs.

“Slap me, okay? Or punch me, hit me-”

“Oh, my _fucking_ -

“-Go put on some gloves if I’m that disgusting to you.” Mami surges. “Because I said I could handle it Hideyoshi, I said I would and I wasn’t embarrassed when your bring your own food places, I didn’t care if we had to wait on the train like it was our only option. I just wanted to be with you and for you to- to look at me when we have sex for fucks sake!”

Hide scratches the back of his head as he winces, “Mami, listen to me.”

“-No more.” she rasps. Her jaw shakes as she bites out her words. “Everytime we fuck you’ve got me turned away from you like I’m part of a cattle. You never to do it face to face. Is there something annoying about my face that you don’t want to see. Do I need to get a fucking nose job so that I can be part of your perfect world? Is that how far it goes?”

There are noises now, people are studying and it’s no stretch to imagine that the RA would be walking down the aisle soon.

“I thought I could tolerate it. I understood so, I thought it would go away if I’d just tough it out. But, all this shit that you pull is fucking bullshit. You’re despicable”

A light is cast in the dark hallway as a voice calls, “Hey, keep it down there!”

Hide huffs a breath through his nose and smiles tiredly, “Guess you didn’t really understand me at all.”

  
  
  


 

“So you know that thing I was talking to you about the other day? The thing about hobbies.”

“Oh, yeah,” Kaneki replies. “Did it work?”

“Well no, I mean, I don’t know I haven’t- That’s not why I was doing it. I just think it’s interesting, you know?”

“Okay,” Kaneki drawls. “How’s the coffee?”

“Well it’s,” Hide looks at the cup in front of him, half empty, and realizes he hasn’t really registered the taste. In his faint memory, he knows that this is different than the usual concoction of chain stores. This place is a fly on the the wall; an italian store front, small quaint. Hide couldn’t make heads or tails out of the menu but Kaneki ordered for them both.

It’s kind of daunting, hanging out with him. At 19, he wonders if Kaneki was just an aimless college kid like him. If so, it’s a hopeful thought for his dad, at least, knowing that no matter how his son turned out for the first 21 years of his life would change at the flip of a switch come graduation.

“It really, really good,” Hide decides, because it is, and it’s only embarrassing to try for anything more descriptive than that. “What did you call this?”

“It’s the house blend, with sugar cream.”

“That sounds,” he looks down at the cup again. “Like it’s not what I drank. Um. Did they forget the sugar?” He tosses his head around in search of a free waiter.

“That’s because the sugar is at the bottom,” Kaneki explained. The counter shifts with the weight of his body as he demonstrates. “ _Zucchero-crema_ is under the coffee, so you really have to take your time stirring, like this. See?”

Yes, if Hide looks really closely, he can see fine white strands amidst the black mass of hair. On this side, the window is against his hair so it could very well be an optical illusion, but the light is caught very well. In fact, if one were to do a side by side comparison, Kaneki’s hair is a lot better than Hide’s. It’s a cheap bleach job that he’s refined over the years, but looking at the natural hair under his nose, he wonders if he’ll end up growing it out, too. His parent’s never liked it, especially back in high school. It’d suck though, he likes being flashy.

Maybe it’s the look on his face but Kaneki breaks a sweat, “Sorry, I’m too close.” He sits down.

“No,” Hide answers. “It’s fine.” Really, it is.”

“Still, you should tell me whenever you are.”

“Sure,” he dismisses. “But, what do you think?”

“About what?”

“What I said. I lied to you.”

“Everyone has their reasons.”

“Yeah, but what if my reason is weird,” Hide inquires. “What if _I’m_ weird?”

“How weird?” Kaneki asks.

“I dunno, pretty darn weird, I suppose.”

“Can’t be that weird.” he remarks. “You’re not the weirdest I’ve met. And I’m pretty sure you’re not the weirdest _you’ve_ met.”

“That”-Hide thinks about the Biology department that he hasn’t visited lately. “That might be true. But, there’s this,” he leans forward, and quietly says, “there’s this thing, that I do.”

Kaneki mimics his posture with seriousness.

Okay.

“I’ve had my hair. Like this? Since high school. Same color, same cut, all this time.” He pulls a gum pack out of his pocket. “I tasted it when I was four, now I buy it in bulk from Hokkaido. The owners of the store I get it from have my card number. Certain foods, I only eat from certain places. I called a ramen company when it was threatened to shut down and now I have a lifetime supply and when it’s gone I can’t have anymore.” He looks down at his mug. “This coffee, it’s good. It really is, but I drink mine medium roasted two sugars no cream, always.

“I have these things that, fit. Sort of. Things that are hard to change. Like a routine. Except, with a lot of conditions.”

“I see,” Kaneki ponders. “Should I not have-”

“No, it’s okay, a little.” Hide stammers. “I always make an effort to try.”

Kaneki settles, “Then, it’s fine. We’re okay.”

And literally everyone says that the first time. Everyone says that, but what tends to happen, is that Hide brings his own drinks, or he can’t write with mechanical pencils and then they’ll say, “It doesn’t matter. Just do it,” and Hide will have to pretend that he doesn’t have time to socialise. He’s explained it before, often not in so many words, but he has. There were always those that persisted and said that they’re cool with it, you know, that they’re chill. They are _down_ with his brand.

Now Hide can’t remember what most of those people looked like.

It’s sad, really sad. He doesn’t want to lose this friendship and even now he wishes he’d just stayed quiet. Yet saying nothing never helps, never makes things better. So okay, Hide is going to- believe in this.

“Oh, I’ve got something, too, though I don’t know if it’s quite the same.” From a small drawstring pouch, Kaneki reveals a small reddish cube. “I drink my coffee dry. When I want to sweeten it, I use these special sugar cubes.” True to his word,he stirs it in.

“That’s pretty cool,” Hide says. “Where do you get it from?”

“I make them myself these days,” Kaneki seems embarrassed. His hand nearly wants to cover his mouth. “Oh, but my manager makes sugars like these. Well, not exactly, but-”

 _Important things Hideyoshi Fails to Ask: The Sequel_ -“You work at a cafe?!”

“Oh, I thought I had said that before?” Kaneki ponders.

“That’s why you know so much, then,” Hide realizes. “Can I come see you work?”

“What for?”

This can’t be real, “To watch you serve customers, of course.”

“It’s not very interesting, believe me,”Kaneki says.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Hide declares. “Now give me the name.”

“Since you asked,” Kaneki mutters, “Ateiku.”

 

 

Wow.

“Kaneki, I think I’m going to propose.”

The waitress blushes, “Can I take you order now?”

“Nope! My best friend here know just what I’ll have,” Hide replies, while slapping Kaneki’s back. It’s surprisingly sturdy for the guy.

Kaneki doesn’t look convinced of this, “I’m not sure I can make something you’ll drink,” he says. “Even among baristas, our house blend tends to vary.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Sometimes it’s a slightly different measurement, or the speed of the pour, or the way the drink is stirred. I heard people say that it’s all in the essence of a person, maybe.”

“Hmm,” The world of coffee is inexplicably diverse at even the simplest of times, Hide thinks. But it all sounds very poetic. “Then, I’ll have yours.”

“If you say so-”

“Kaneki, you have a visitor.” The old man calls from the counter. He’s smiling and pointing towards the door.

It could be a myriad of things a relative from the countryside, an old classmate, or, well, a girlfriend. He seems like he does, anyway. Its not as though Kaneki can  hang out everyday, him being that he’s older and all, and sometimes Hide calls- to waste time or whatever, and Kaneki says that he’s got plans, he’s busy. That’s cool, you know, and that’s time he could be spending with his girlfriend, Hide understands.

And she’d probably be a very beautiful woman, maybe a little bit older, smart with a dry sort of wit-

“Kaneki, you don’t borrow money from shady people, do you?”

 

“Woah!” the big guy says. “It’s black!”

“Banjo,” Kaneki acknowledges.

Banjo’s a _big guy_. Hide’s thinking the mafia or human trafficking business. It’s kind of offensive, because while Hide’s always warned to be careful of people and guard against danger, it does in no way mean that his friend is immune to it. This is hypocrisy and belittlement.

“What the hell happened to you?”

“It’s just a dye job. A friend did this for me.”

“Wow,” he coughs into his hand. “When I’d heard that you were ditching us, I didn’t know what to think, but,” he takes a look at him from head to toe. “Man...shit.”

It’s very possible that Keneki once dealt his hands on the shadier side of this, though he has a hard time assimilating it. The pieces _do_ fit though; it would explain how he knows how to fight and the the eyepatch thing. Okay, see here.

Ken Kaneki, the illegitimate son of the third most powerful crime boss. He rises up the ranks through respect of his elders, and marked intelligence, becoming one of his father’s most favored members. Beloved by the boss and his peers, Kaneki is the darling of the yakuza. _And_ in an unprecedented event, the title of successor is unclear.  However this sparks jealousy among the six other sons who soon conspire to murder their father before her announces Kaneki as heir.

It was the poison from an albino snake. Just one drop was enough to kill. The sons decided that the honour of watching the death up close would go to the youngest and it was Kaneki who bought green tea to his father, brewed with the deadly venom.

As the son, he pours for his father and waits on him. Yet today his father says,

“Ken, drink with me.”

The father pours for his son and they drink.

But _wait!_ Keneki smells something strange under his nose. His finely tuned senses are what register the threat and as soon as it's picked up his body rushes in to action. His father cup clatters to the floor both of them in shock and awe of what had transpired

Kaneki grasps desperately at what to say in that moment. He looks around in askance of where to start.

Then blood curdles from the boss' mouth.

"Father!" He says, capturing his old man before he hit the floor. "Somebody! Help him!"

And he was not able to attend the funeral.

"You killed the boss. For power!"

"No! I didn't- I would never!"

"This transgression," the eldest son says, blade hovering over Kankei's left eye. "Requires due punishment."

-or something like that. Hide's never really asked what the eyepatch thing was about.

He feels like letting out a barrage of questions out on Kaneki, as  wrong as it would be to do so.

He feeling a lot of different things this evening aside from nosey and guilty of being nosey. There's a something he gets as he looks at that guy who seems to know Kaneki well and a lot longer than Hide has. Out of no disrespect would Hide like to just cut in right now. Seriously, and nothing against this man who has more right than he to speak and catch up with a friend, Hide feels a something that is more important and needs to be taken care of.

 

"Kaneki! As beautiful as Touka is, I did come here to visit you."

"Huuuh," Banjo says and, uh, wow friendly faces must be hard to come by in his hometown.

"Oh, Banjo, this is Hideyoshi Nagachika. He goes to Kamii."

Shit might as well give away the dorm number.

"I'm gonna leave you two to go at it. See ya."

"Wait, what'd you have, coffee? I've got a tab here I'll tell Touka to put it on."

"Didn't have anything," Hide says as he walks back to dorms. He sends a hand back to wave, "Later, Kaneki."

He hears Kaneki call after him but it’s fine, it’s totally fine. Yes, and those two carry on their conversation:

 

“So will you be able to? Downtown-”

“-I’m getting pretty tired these days, actually.”

“That’s why you’ve got to eat better. Do you need company tonight or will you-”

“No,no. It’ll be fine. Where-”

Blood Type.

“AB.I forget whether it’s positive or negative,sorry.”

Favorite Coffee.

“Black.”

What’s your favorite color?

“Um, black? Although it’s the absence of color…”Kaneki wonders. “But, I’m not goth or anything!”

Favorite book.

“I’m a very big fan of Tatatsumi’s work. The one I like the most though is _The Black Goat's Egg_ \- ah.” Kaneki realizes, “Did you read the copy I lent you?”

Hide waves away the thought, “Everyone has their own pace.”

“How are you still in school?”

“Don’t mind, don’t mind.” With a clear mind, Hide has reset himself with a more positive attitude than the one he carried the last time they were together. Now he’s learning everything he can about his friend. To rectify things. With himself? Hide isn’t too clear what he’s fighting against here.

But isn’t it true that he doesn’t know all the important things about Kaneki? With Nishio it was never this hard although...Is this how one normally builds friendships as an adult? Because Hide’s still feeling pretty juvenile at the moment. All he has to go on from his primary school days were gundam figurines and snot noodle contests, neither of which he’s as fanatic about at present.

He takes a drink of his coffee.School, doesn’t seem like something the two of them could potentially bond over. His hobbies include reading and people watching. The only thing he could see them coming together for, would be this Italian place that Hide’s growing to like, if only for the quiet company. But apart from that, Kaneki looks to be worlds away from a guy like Hide.

“Oh! What type of girl do you like?”

Kaneki flushes, “Huh?”

“Yeah, what kind is appealing to you?” He doesn’t know why this question calls for the sort of intent he’s giving off right now and he doesn’t even have an answer in mind, but this feels like the penultimate of responses.

“Um, someone with the same book interests, perhaps?”

Okay, WOW.

“Ah,” Kaneki says. “Do you have someone, Hide? Is it like the other things?”

“I don’t really have a criteria,” Hide replies shakily. “But I like a kind, pure soul, maybe? Someone that’s okay with my flaws, first and foremost.”

Crap there’s really no room to recover is there?

“I guess they’d have to be okay with those things you like.”

Hide rest his shoulders heavily on the chair’s back and tilts his head up, pondering, “ Yeah, I guess. I also like someone I can be comfortable with. I think inteligence, hobbies or looks don’t really matter, as long as we’re both okay. Happy together. Happy even with all the restrictions I have on myself.” Happy and okay as he is now, even-.

“Oh, that’s a very mature idea to have, Hide. I hope you find that person soon.”

Hide laughs. Hide laughs so hard that he cries. “Don’t worry about it, Kaneki.”

 

Hide is still banned a few more weeks for that little scuffle he was in. In fact, things have only seemed to go downhill after Mami. Where is she now? What is she doing? She wanted to be a...what does she study, again? He’s already forgotten.

Not that he suddenly going to forget Kaneki. No, this is different, it’s been different from the start and Hide just never realized it and now it’s gotten to the place where it’s too late to stop and suddenly he fits, Kaneki fits. Holy shit, he fits and there is no fucking way to advance with this.

The only way to deal with a stalemate this impenetrable is to drink until you can’t make out what it is.

So he drinks.

“Why get into something you don’t fully understand, you know? You gotta _stick_ ,” Hide says. “You’ve got to stick to what you know.

“What I know, it took me a long time to figure out. I went to this amusement park back when I was a kid and it had to have been the fifth one my parents took me to but it- there was something about it. And I couldn’t go to any parks any more, after that. I only liked the one.”

The woman he’s been talking to the the past hour or so, is a very curvaceous lady, and Hide appreciates that.

“You look thirsty. Want another drink?” the woman asks kindly.

“Thanks,” he drawls.

“Your situation reminds my of a book I’ve read before. _The Black Goat’s Egg_.”

It sounds familiar. “Are you calling me a murderer?” His drink arrives and he gulps it down in one fell swoop. It burns down his throat hotter than the last shots he’s ordered, he pretty sure the barkeep’s forgotten what kind he normally drinks. Joke’s on him for coming here.

“Wow, you’ve read it?”

“Yeah, no, I didn’t but I know a guy.”Hide slurs. “He likes...the intelligent type? Book smart. Regular.” When it all listed out in front of him, his happy buzz turns into a not so happy buzz. “Kinda like you. I could set it up. I could set you up. With him, if you like. Doesn’t he sound like an interesting guy?

“Very interesting. Ah, but, Nagachica, didn’t you know?”

Then it hits him-

“You shouldn’t take things from a stranger.”

 

 

Kimi rinses out the remnants of the dye one more time before deciding it was okay to wring the water out over the kitchen sink. Black box colors always do a number on her towels so she’s learned to be very thorough to avoid mess.

Hair styling can be a bit of chore when you can’t anticipate when the client comes in and how much time you have. She also wishes she could attempt this at an actual salon. It’s fun, though. None of her classmates can do a better color job than her and that’s all due to the practice she clocks in at home. In retrospect, this DIY job she does every so often is a real advantage.

Cutting is the most tedious part of it all. Kimi’s stocked up a bunch of photos for reference but creating the exact same haircut each and every time is difficult. She wishes hair suddenly grew a years worth in a matter of minutes, especially if she had say in when it happened. Personally, she’d be able to try her hand at any and all trends at the drop of a hat. No more heat damage, too; Kimi’s kinda suffering right now.

“Kaneki, don’t you want to see what you’d look like with a perm?” she says as she sits him down and detangles. “You and Nishio could be twins!”

He laughs, but doesn’t look on board, “Maybe next time, Kimi. I’m not really into fashion.”

“Well you should start. Making a new haircut look days old is difficult, you know?” She cuts carefully, squinting. When the level is where Kimi like, she gives it a rough shake, before sighing and rubbing her eyelids. “I thought you said I wouldn’t have to do this as often anymore. Weren’t you planning on leaving that world?”

“Mm,” Kaneki muses. “Have you watched The Godfather?”

Kimi stops.“Eh? What?”

“ ‘Just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in.’ ”

“Ah,” Keneki turns slightly. “Nishio’s seen it?”

“He has such weird taste in movies! We can’t watch TV together, either. I didn’t know you were into that stuff, too, Ka-ooph!”

Nishio grips Kimi’s waist tighter and he rests his chin on her shoulder, “ It’s always dangerous to balance survival and society. The common crutch is when the idiots who resolve to reject being a ghoul reach the limits of their hunger, and other idiots binge recklessly until hundreds of doves swoop down and peck at their corpses. Either way,human’s are the greatest weakness for us.

“So, the Kaneki that saves a human by devouring the ghoul makes me uneasy.”

“Nishio!” Kimi jostles him off. “You’re not making any sense-!”

“It would be easy enough to spread this information to people that a vying to have it, eh? You’re currently caught between a rock and a hard place and can count on a less-than-zero chance that I won’t rat you out to the highest bidder.”

“Stop it! You wouldn’t do that!” Kimi turns to Kaneki, red-faced. “He wouldn’t do that!”

“Of course I can’t do that, Kimi,” Nishio says. “How many times has he come to your house when you were alone?”

“What?”

“How many times has he found his way in here and caught you unawares after class? I’ve told you over and over again to go to a public area and call me whenever he’s around.”

“Kaneki’s a kind person! He’s saved my life!”

 

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Right, Kaneki?” Nishio pushes Kimi roughly and she crashes into the wall. She resolves to stay where she lays as her eyes begin to burn. Nishio pays no mind, but grabs a portion of that damp, slicked-back hair in order to pull the other man’s head backwards.

The act is both primal and useless. The column of his neck, the bob of Kaneki’s adam’s apple is in full view in front of the vanity’s mirror. The act of bearing one’s neck is solely reserved for the wild. A base action in show of submission that’s supposed to forcefully stamp out the uneasy feelings bubbling in Nishio’s sternum.

They refuse.

He whispers quietly, “ When I first met you, I thought you were a bumbling idiot, but you’re actually quite smart aren’t you. Getting cozy with my- _leverage_. _Knowing_ -.” Nishio chances a peek into Kaneki’s eyes.

They stare back at him, black, human, still.

“Are you evening the score, I wonder? Is this an attempt to make me think more of you?”

They are black, motionless, fearless.

Nishio swallows, “Another threat?”

Black, normal, calm.

“If I kill him fir-

 _Red_ -

“What the fuck?”

 

Kimi kindly suggests that Hide crawl back into the futon, where the electric blanket can help him sweat out the last of his sickness. That might’ve been the tipping point for Nishio who storms out without a jacket into the night and somehow the world’s become oddly domestic again.

Hide very much wants to believe that when he next opens his eye’s, he’ll wake up in his own bed, next to his girlfriend and without much else to worry about other than finals. He even tries it a few time, blinking slowly, observing changes to his surroundings.

“I’ve got some water for you try to drink it all, okay?” Kimi puts a pitcher and glass near his bedside.  She tucks her hair away put the attempt is paltry when everything is clearly written on her face. She looks cold, her cheeks are flushed, and her movement are so stiff that is takes a couple of tries to even fill the glass for him. Out of all the people he’s ever met, Kimi was the most open of them all.

“Kimi,” Hide whispers. “Are you okay?”

She stops and follows his eyes to the doorway. To where Kaneki is. To even, Nishio, possibly. Hide hopes that his meaning gets across. He hopes that she understands that he’s asking Do you need help? How long has this been happening to you? Can we call the police? Hide’s eyes are hardened with the resolve to do whatever he has to even in the ill state he’s in. If he can find a way to get Kimi out here then he’ll consider his work done. But he doesn’t know what these people can or can’t do, only she can have an accurate gauge of that. She’s the one that going to have to lead here.

She looks at the door, then returns her gaze to him, eyes steady, and states plainly, “Ghouls have better hearing than us.”

Hide sinks with the sudden weight in his stomach. He definitely heard that from outside. If what she said is true then, he definitely heard that from outside-

“Kimi, I can watch over him. Sorry for taking up your space like this.”

“No it’s fine. I still have the air mattress.” She stands. “I’m going to look for Nishiki. I don’t want him to spend the night out in the cold.”

It’s a long time before Hide gets the courage to open his eyes once more. What he’s met with is Kaneki Ken, sitting beside him with his head buried in his clasped hands. His hair is inky black and somehow darker than Hide’s ever seen it before, but that can’t be true. Hide hasn’t seen any of this man before, but it is Kaneki, logically. Still the same Kaneki. He can feel all his fingers and toes so this must be Kaneki.

“What are you thinking,”Hide mutters.

Without moving, Kaneki replies, “I’m debating the merits of keeping you alive.”

So that.

“Well, decide soon because I hate being caught in a lurch, man.” Hide says. “But if you eat me, you would eat our friendship, remember that well especially when-

One of his eyes is blood red and soaked in pitch blackness in a way that is absolutely not human. That is all that Hide can see through the curtain of his hands but it was more than enough to warn him. To let him know that this was serious.To let him know that it’s not alright for them to be the best buds they’ve been, because Hide is supposed to be food, and Kaneki is supposed to eat him. That he hasn’t eaten him yet, but he can- _but he doesn’t want to_.

Hide smiles, “And you should keep in mind, still, that if you eat me, you won’t be able to properly hear me say that I like you."

  
  
  



End file.
